Rural India - The market for technological future!

This post is to provide a unique idea for online shopping considering the universal truth that anything can happen under the sun. The blog focuses on the tremendous opportunities that an online shopping giant like ebay can have in a country like India, which carries more than 1.25 billion people. It can be said that any company hasn't targeted India unless it has reached out to its masses which is "the rural India". Close to 70% of Indian population is in rural India where there are voluminous hidden profits. One popular success story which rocked the marketing strategy of rural India was by ITC. EChoupal has given a new angle to ITC's brand image in today's India with rural marketing.

The rural India, where there is almost insignificant subscribers to internet connectivity, is moving ahead towards digitization. The usage and subscription of DTH connections in India are increasing at a growth rate of 28%. At this rate, by 2030, all the villages are expected to have advanced digital operations. Based on this fact, I have two ideas for ebay to improve its market share and presence in India.

Idea 1:

Firstly, ebay should create its own TV channel to reach out to the masses by tying up with the DTH operators such as Airtel/ Tata Sky etc. The DTH tie-up would be an advanced version of teleshopping as it would be a free channel continuously played, with charges as minimal as they pay for the webspace. Ebay should also introduce trials for different sizes/ colors/ varieties depending on the purchases for every order. They should come up with exclusive offers for digital consumers. The discount coupons/ offers promoted by ebay would be well received in rural India which is by and large a very price sensitive community.This is more exciting with the wide range of products and services that ebay has got to provide.

Idea 2:

The second idea is to set up kiosks, as shown in the image, at several locations in rural India where a consumer can go and select the products he/ she would wish to buy. The orders would be directly delivered to the consumers' house, free-of-cost, as ebay always provides. This would be synonymous to a cyber cafe set up exclusively for ebay. With an effective and efficient operational networking, ebay can expect a profitable outcome at the same time addressing the social cause. This initiative would be the first of its kind for the online shopping industry tracking the feedback and response of the end users at any point in time.

More than the profits, with the above two ideas, I believe ebay can comfortably attain a satisfaction that it has reached out to the remote parts of the world with successful operational set up which no company can even think of stepping into. The initiation is more than a win-win situation to the consumers who are majorly in need of the products which ebay offers. Overall, ebay can bring about a social revolutionary change for rural India which in itself is a remarkable achievement! After all, how you can "really" make a difference - makes you the market differentiator!

As a great man once said - "A great social success is a pretty girl who plays her cards as carefully as if she were plain"

This post is exclusively for ebay.in (Chrome extension bit.ly/eBayCheck_Extention ). Hail ebay which is the market leader for online shopping through and through!!!